Plumbline PS1000T User manual

Plumbline 1000 Series
Timered Water Softeners Owners Manual
2011 Kinetico Incorporated
www.plumblinewater.com
Product No. 13788B
“The Plumbline Product Line”
Plumbline 1000 Series
Timered Softeners
Owners Manual
Water Softener Models
PS1000T
PS1500T

Plumbline Water Softeners Owners Manual
Rev. 08/2011 Page 2 Product No. 13788B
Table of Contents
How to Use Soft Water ………………………………………………………………3
Product Line Overview …………………………………………………………………5
System Operation ………………………………………………………………………6
System Maintenance and Install Guidelines ………………………………………7
Startup……………………………………………………………………………………8
Troubleshooting ………………………………………………………………………9
Notes……………………………………………………………………………………11
Congratulations!
We know you’ll love your clean, soft water
and your new Plumbline Water Softener.
You’ll soon wonder how you ever lived
without it.
Improving your water with a Plumbline Water
Softener is just one way to enjoy better water
in your home. A line of Plumbline Filters and
Drinking Water Systems is also available to
upgrade your water. Contact your plumbing
contractor for more information about
Plumbline products.
©2011 Kinetico Incorporated
“Plumbline” and the Plumbline logo are trademarks of Kinetico Incorporated,
Newbury, Ohio.
Plumbline Water Softeners Owners Manual
Rev. 08/2011 Page 11 Product No. 13788B
Notes:

Plumbline Water Softeners Owners Manual
Rev. 08/2011 Page 10 Product No. 13788B
piston assembly.
Control cycles
continuously.
A
. Faulty timer mechanism. A. Replace timer.
Drain flows continuously.
A
. Foreign material in control.
B. Internal control leak.
C
. Control valve jammed in brine
or backwash position.
D. Timer motor stopped or
jammed.
A. Remove piston assembly and
inspect bore, remove foreign
material and check control in
various regeneration positions.
B. Replace seals and/or piston
assembly.
C, Replace seals and/or piston
assembly.
D. Replace timer.
Plumbline Water Softeners Owners Manual
Rev. 08/2011 Page 3 Product No. 13788B
How to use soft water
Now that your Plumbline water system is installed, you can enjoy all the benefits
of having soft water. If you are not accustomed to soft water, here are some tips
to follow to get the most benefit from your new system:
Use pure soap products.
Most leading brands of laundry soaps, household
cleaners and shampoos contain large amounts of
detergents. The harsh chemicals in these
detergents are necessary when using hard water,
but you can reduce your use or eliminate them
altogether with soft water. We recommend you use
pure soap products, clear liquid soaps without dyes
and perfumes. If you continue to use your normal
detergents, you should significantly reduce the
amount used. Your local Plumbline contractor can
provide you with more information and recommended detergent amounts.
Use less soap and household cleaners.
When using soap or cleaners with soft water, start by cutting the amount of soap
you normally use in half. You may even find you can use as little as one-quarter
the amount you were using before. Hardness minerals in water interfere with
soap’s cleaning ability. Once they are removed, soap can do its job better. Even
though you’ll use less soap, you’ll get more suds and cleaner results.
It’s especially important to reduce the amount of
laundry soap you use. Washing clothes in soft water
not only means you’ll need less soap to get your
clothes clean, but also that the soap you do use will
rinse out completely. Washing in soft water makes
your clothes look whiter and brighter, and they’ll last
longer too. It is very important not to let your clothes
sit in the washer after the cycle is complete.
Detergent buildup can stain your clothing. Again,
Plumbline recommends that you use clear, liquid
soaps, without dyes or perfumes.
After bathing in soft water, your skin should feel “slippery.” It’s not soap left on
your skin. What you’re feeling is your own smooth skin without any leftover soap
curd or residue. When you bathed in hard water, you were never able to rinse
this residue off completely. The soap curd that left a ring in your bathtub was also
left on your skin. But now that you have soft water, you’ll feel soft, smooth and
clean. The same holds true for rinsing shampoo out of your hair.
Reduce or eliminate the use of fabric softeners.
Fabrics washed in hard water retain soap curd or residue making them “crackle”
when removed from the dryer or stiff if air-dried. Fabric softeners are necessary
with hard water to keep your clothing soft, but with soft water, you can reduce
your use of fabric softeners or eliminate them altogether.

Plumbline Water Softeners Owners Manual
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Take special precautions with automatic dishwashers.
Soft water, when combined with caustic phosphates in some dishwasher
detergents and very high temperatures in the dry cycle, can etch dishes and
glassware. To prevent this possibility:
• use the “no heat” dry cycle on your
dishwasher;
• use the minimum amount of a good quality,
low phosphate dishwasher detergent
needed to clean your dishes. This may be
as little as 20 percent of the amount
recommended by the appliance
manufacturer or on the dishwasher soap
box;
• wash good china and crystal by hand.
Special care for plants and fish.
Depending on your water hardness level, amount of rainfall and how often you
water, you could use soft water for outside watering, but why waste your soft
water? Water your lawn, shrubs and outside
plants from an outside hard water faucet, or put
your Plumbline water system in by-pass before
watering. See “By-pass” on page 12 for
instructions on by-passing your system. Many
houseplants can be watered with soft water,
although some can be highly sensitive to the
elevated level of sodium ions in soft water. You
may prefer to water houseplants with hard water
or water from a Plumbline reverse osmosis
system.
Fish accustomed to hard water may have trouble with an abrupt change to soft
water. Make the change gradually over a period of seven to 14 days by blending
hard and soft water until the tank contains 100 percent soft water. Once you
begin using soft water, you should notice that your fish tank stays cleaner longer.
Plumbline Water Softeners Owners Manual
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Plumbline Softener Troubleshooting
Problem Possible Causes Solutions
Softener fails to regenerate.
A
. Electrical service to unit has
been interrupted.
B. Timer is defective.
C
. Power failure.
A. Assure permanent electrical
service (check fuse, plug, pull
chain or switch).
B. Replace timer.
C. Reset time of day.
Softener delivers hard
water.
A
. By-pass valve is open.
B. No salt in brine tank.
C
. Injectors or screen is plugged.
D. Insufficient water flowing into
brine tank.
E. Hot water tank hardness.
F. Leak at distributor tube.
G. Internal valve leak.
A. Close by-pass valve.
B. Add salt to brine tank and
maintain salt level above water
level.
C. Replace injectors and screen.
D. Check brine tank fill time and
clean brine line flow control if
plugged.
E. Repeated flushing of the hot
water tank is required.
F. Make sure distributor tube is
not cracked. Check O-ring and
tube pilot.
G. Replace seals and spacers
and/or piston.
Unit uses too much salt.
A
. Improper salt setting.
B. Excess water in brine tank.
A. Check salt usage and salt
setting.
B. See excessive water in brine
tank.
Loss of water pressure.
A
. Iron buildup in line to water
softener.
B. Iron buildup in water softener.
C
. Inlet control plugged due to
foreign material loose from
pipes by recent work done on
plumbing system.
A. Clean line to water filter.
B. Clean control and add media
cleaner to media bed.
Increase frequency of
regeneration.
C. Remove piston and clean
control.
Loss of media through
drain line.
A
. Air in water system. A. Assure that well system has
proper air elimination control.
Check for dry well condition.
Iron in conditioned water.
A
. Fouled media bed. A. Check backwash, brine draw
and brine tank fill, increase
frequency of regeneration,
increase backwash time.
Excessive water in brine
tank.
A
. Plugged drain line flow control. A. Clean flow control.
Salt water in service line.
A
. Plugged injector system.
B. Timer not cycling.
C
. Foreign material in brine valve.
D. Foreign material in brine line
flow control.
A. Clean injector and replace
screen.
B. Replace timer.
C. Clean or replace brine valve.
D. Clean brine line flow control.
Softener fails to draw brine.
A
. Draw line flow control is
plugged.
B. Injector is plugged.
C
. Injector screen plugged.
D. Line pressure is too low.
E. Internal control leak.
A. Clean drain line flow control.
B. Clean or replace injectors.
C. Replace screen.
D. Increase line pressure
(minimum 20 psi).
E. Change seals, spacers and/or

Plumbline Water Softeners Owners Manual
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Plumbline Set-up Procedures
1. How To Set Days on Which System Is to Backwash
Rotate skipper wheel until the number “1” is at the red pointer.
Set the days that backwash is to occur by sliding tabs on the skipper wheel
outward to expose trip fingers. Each tab is one day. Finger at red pointer is
tonight.
Moving clockwise from the red pointer, extend or retract fingers to obtain the
desired backwash schedule.
2. How To Set The Time Of Day
Press and hold the red button in to disengage the drive gear.
Turn the large gear until the actual time of day is at the time of day pointer.
Release the red button to again engage the drive gear.
3. How To Manually Backwash Your Water Filter At Any Time
Turn the manual regeneration knob clockwise.
The slight movement of the manual regeneration knob engages the program
wheel and starts the regeneration program.
The black center knob will make one revolution in the following three (3)
hours (approximately) and stop in the position shown in Figure 1.
Even though it takes three (3) hours for this center knob to complete one
revolution, the backwash cycle of your unit might be set only ½ of this time.
In any event, conditioned water may be drawn after water stops flowing from
the water filter drain line.
Figure 1
Plumbline Water Softeners Owners Manual
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Product Line Overview
The Plumbline Softener system is designed for applications with levels of
hardness <40 gpg and levels of iron <2 ppm. For applications with greater levels
of hardness or iron, a duplex unit is recommended.
The Plumbline Softener is available in two (2) tank sizes and fixed sequence
times. These options allow the ideal configuration to be used for your application.
Fixed Regeneration Sequence Time:
This valve allows for a basic system setup and will provide for
operation on inlet water supplied less than 40 grains hardness and
2 ppm of ferrous iron.
Timer Control:
This system control will regenerate your softener on a given day of
the week. Each Plumbline Softener is designed with a 12 day timer.
Set-up is simple, with each day independently selected to start
regeneration. If the skipper wheel (day of the week wheel) is
programmed to regenerate, then the unit will start a regeneration at
2:00 am on that day.
Specifications
* Service flow indicates typical household flow rates and is not an indication of system limitations.
** As tested to NSF/ANSI standard 44 by WQA under the Gold Seal Program.
***Highest removal levels may not include certified brine settings. Please reference performance data
sheet for details of certified and non-certified brine settings and efficiencies.
Product PS 1000T PS 1500T
Part Number 13770A 13771A
Service Flow @ 15 psid* 7.5 gpm 8.7 gpm
Power Requirements 120 VAC 60 Hz, 1 Amp 120 VAC 60 Hz, 1 Amp
Backwash Flow Rate 1.5 gpm 2.0 gpm
Capacity** 15,900 grains 22,700 grains
Brine Setting 6.3 lbs. 9 lbs.
Salt Dose 9 lbs./ft³ 9 lbs./ft³
Tank Size 8” x 40” 10” x 40”
Volume of High Capacity
Non-solvent Based Cation
Resin
0.7 ft³ 1.0 ft³
Maximum Compensated***
Hardness
40 gpg 40 gpg
Maximum Iron 2 mg/L 2 mg/L

Plumbline Water Softeners Owners Manual
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System Operation
Your Plumbline Water Softener is designed to provide years of trouble-free
operation. The following cycles soften your water and regenerate your system
when necessary.
Service: Hard water enters unit at the valve inlet and flows down through the
resin in the media tank. Conditioned water enters the center tube through the
bottom distributor, then flows up through the center tube, around the piston and
out the outlet of the valve.
Regeneration: When the valve is in regeneration, raw water is being passed to
service until rapid rinse is complete.
Preliminary Rinse: This is a slow rinse of the resin bed. Water flows down
through the resin bed, up the bottom distributor and out the drain.
Backwash: Water enters unit at the valve inlet, flows through the piston,
down the center tube, through the bottom distributor, and up through the
resin, around the piston and out the drain line. Water is passed through the
resin bed in the opposite direction of normal flow, which flushes suspended
matter out of the resin tank. Backwashing also loosens the resin bed which
becomes compacted during the softening (service) cycle.
Brine/Slow Rinse: Hard water enters the unit at valve inlet, flows up into
the injector housing and down through the nozzle and throat to draw brine
from the brine tank. Brine flows down through resin and enters the center
tube through the bottom distributor and out through the drain line. The resin
beads are washed with the brine solution. Since the resin beads prefer
calcium and magnesium ions, the slow rinse allows an overwhelming
concentration of sodium ions to overpower and force the calcium and
magnesium ions off of the resin beads and down the drain.
Rapid Rinse: Water enters unit at the valve inlet, flows through the piston,
down the center tube, through the bottom distributor, and up through the
resin, around the piston and out the drain line. Water is passed through the
resin bed in the opposite direction of normal flow, which flushes suspended
matter out of the resin tank. Backwashing also loosens the resin bed which
becomes compacted during the softening (service) cycle.
Settling Rinse: This is a slow rinse of the resin bed. Water flows down
through the resin bed, up the bottom distributor and out the drain.
Brine Tank Refill: Hard water enters the unit at the valve inlet, flows up
through the injector housing, and through the brine valve to refill the brine
tank. Valve is now delivering soft water to the home. Water is refilling the
brine tank to make a brine solution for the next regeneration.
Plumbline Water Softeners Owners Manual
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System Maintenance and Install Guidelines
Adding Salt
Ensure that the salt level in the brine tank is always above the water line.
Water Pressure
Inlet water pressure range of 20-120 psi is required for regeneration valve to
operate effectively.
Electrical Facilities
An uninterrupted 120 VAC / 60 Hz alternating current (A/C) supply is required.
Please make sure voltage supply is compatible with unit before installation.
Existing Plumbing
Existing plumbing should be free from lime and iron buildup. Replace plumbing
that has heavy lime and/or iron buildup. If plumbing is clogged with iron, install a
separate iron filter unit ahead of the water softener.
System By-pass
Always provide for the installation of a by-pass valve if unit is not equipped with
one. If valve is leaking, turn by-pass from Service to the By-pass position.
NOTE: If the valve continues to leak after turning the by-pass to By-pass position,
shut off the main water line and call your local service technician (preferably the
one who installed the system) IMMEDIATELY.
CAUTION
Do not exceed water pressure of 120 psi.
Do not exceed water temperature of 110 ºF.
Do not subject unit to freezing conditions.
Sanitization
After installation, or if water is not used for >30 days, sanitization of the system is
recommended.
Regenerate system, after regeneration, go through sanitization procedures.
Mix 1 oz. of household, unscented bleach with 1 gallon of water in a bucket.
Disconnect brine line from brine tank.
Place brine line in bucket with diluted bleach solution.
Place system into brine draw.
Draw the 1 gallon of solution, then put unit into by-pass position.
Let bleach soak tank for 60 minutes.
Reconnect brine line to brine tank.
Open by-pass valve, continue with system regeneration cycle.
After cycle is complete, repeat the backwash cycle.
Place unit back into service.
Open By-pass Closed By-pass